


I'll Stay By Your Side

by BrokenCelestial



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Eddie doesn’t die, Hospitals, Literal Sleeping Together, M/M, Not Beta Read, One Shot, Post-Pennywise (IT), Sharing a Bed, Tags Are Hard, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-25
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-18 11:28:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28742505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrokenCelestial/pseuds/BrokenCelestial
Summary: Eddie doesn’t die and the Losers take him to a hospital in Derry. Richie is unwilling to leave his side and everything ends well.It's just a nice one-shot.
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak & Richie Tozier, Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Kudos: 8





	I'll Stay By Your Side

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoy this. I honestly forgot what I was doing because this was written while I was in class so set your expectations accordingly.

It was a quiet ride to the hospital. Richie sat in the back of the ambulance, clasping Eddie’s hand, and impossibly still. He didn’t cry, he wasn’t breathing heavily, he wasn’t even shaking. He was numb, nothing in the world could bring him out of his zombie state. Nothing in the world, except for the man being brought back to life by the EMTs.

They worked quickly, words passed between them as fast as they passed their tools back and forth. They managed to get the bleeding to slow and Eddie’s heart to start up again. They put an IV into his arm, but that was all they could do for now. That was all they could do until they got to the hospital.

It was one of the few times he ever prayed. Richie prayed that Eddie would wake up and be fine. His eyes were squeezed shut and his grip was tight on the dying man’s hand. 

How he wished Stanley was still there. He’d know just what to tell Richie. He’d know just what to say to make him relax just enough that his jaw wasn’t so tight and his shoulder didn’t hurt.

But there Richie was, alone in an ambulance, the love of his life barely hanging on, and still trying to wrap his head around what had happened.

The rest of the losers were following them in a car, none of them knew any better than Richie what had happened. Bev had offered to go with Richie, but he couldn’t, not then, not when she offered. He regretted that decision now. He _really_ needed someone right now. Or a bucket to throw up in.

When they arrived at the hospital, Richie was quick to follow, and he followed them up to the doors of the surgery room. He was stopped and it took everything in him to not break the rules and follow them in. It was Bev’s gentle hug that stopped him. It was safe and warm and he let himself be let to the chairs that lined the little alcove outside of the doors. The rest of the Losers sat down too, but no one could find the words Richie needed.

“Richie,” Bev asked quietly, the way a mother would talk to a hurt child, “Do you need anything?”

He looked up at her, completely lost in himself, “Huh?”

“Do you need anything?” She repeated.

“No, I’m good,” he responded absentmindedly. 

Ben stood up from one of the chairs he had taken, “I’m going to go get us all some coffee, Mike? Bill? Could you come with me?”

They both nodded and followed him down the corridor of tile and doors. Richie and Bev were left alone. They didn’t say much, Bev just continued to rub his back, until he engulfed her in a tight embrace, unable to stop the tears from falling down his face.

There was nothing she could really say. What was there to say? They had just defeated an evil clown who tormented all of them. Richie watched Eddie die in front of him and carried his lifeless body out of the sewers, holding it tightly to him until the EMTs showed up. Bev, although her heart ached for her friend in the surgery room, could not begin to fathom what was going through Richie’s mind, so she said the only thing that was left, “He’s going to be okay.”

Richie gripped her tighter, he hoped to whatever god was out there, that she was right.

Eventually, Richie, from both physical and mental exhaustion, passed out. When Ben came back with the coffee, he saw Richie, awkwardly curled into the chair, and laid his coat over him. Ben placed a gentle kiss on Bev’s lips as he handed her the coffee cup, “How’s he doing?”

Bev sighed, “I wish I knew,” she looked over to Bill and Mike, “How are you guys holding up?”

“Fine,” Bill said, before sagging into one of the chairs. Mike agreed and did the same.

They weren’t certain of Eddie's fate, but they knew one thing. It was going to be a very long night.

***

A man came through the doors, dressed in blue-green doctors, dark circles under his eyes, but a smile one his face. “Hello,” He said softly to the group. Bill was the first to wake and eyes wide he quickly awoke everyone else. They all sat on the edge of their chairs, anxiously waiting for the words to come out of his mouth.

“He made it through surgery, he’s going to be okay.” the man said warmly, “Now, he’s asleep, so we can’t let anyone see him just yet.”

Richie stood up abruptly, “No, I have to see him!”

The man’s smile tightened, “Unless you’re family or his wife,” he eyed Bev, who frowned, “We can’t let you in until visiting hours.”

“I have to see him,” Richie said again slowly, the heaviness and tightness in his lungs returned.

“I’m sorry sir,” the man said again, his eyes darting between the others.

Bev rolled her eyes and opened to speak, but it was Mike who spoke first, “With all due respect, but he is the only family that man has.”

“Brother?”

“Uh,” Mike shot Richie a look, but he was too distressed and inside his head to even realize what was happening, “No, he’s his, um, partner.”

The man looked hesitant and he eyes Richie, “Partner?”

“With respect, sir,” Bev said, standing up, “He has a right to see him, it’s been a very long day for all of us, please.”

“Oh, all right. Come with me,” he gave a weary smile, “The rest of you can come see him tomorrow.”

The man started walking down the hall, Richie staring after him. It wasn’t until Bill gently touched his shoulder, “Go on, Rich.”

Richie nodded and quickly followed the man. 

When the man opened the door to Eddie’s room, his heart almost came out of his mouth. He stilled, his hands trembling like an Earthquake. “Eddie,” his voice cracked. But Eddie was asleep and couldn’t hear him.

“Make sure you call a nurse when he wakes up,” The man tells Richie before turning and going back down the hall.

Richie stood in the doorway for a few minutes, though to him it felt like mere moments. There he was. Eddie was laying peaceful, he hadn’t been impaled the day before. God, Richie couldn’t believe it. He was still here, Eddie’s heart was still beating and he was here, in the room, laying in the bed. 

He needed to sit down, or he was sure he’d pass out now.

Quietly he pulled one of the chairs that were pushed to the side of the room next to the bed Eddie was laying in.

When he sat down, he could hardly stop the flow of tears that started. “Eddie,” He choked out. He didn’t have anything else to say. Or, he couldn’t find the words.

Without thinking he reached for Eddie’s hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. It was all he needed because Eddie was real. Eddie was alive. And Eddie was safe.

He fell asleep there, head resting on the hospital, hand still clasping Eddie’s.

***

It was dark. Incredibly and disastrously dark. Eddie hated it. Sure, there was a dull orange glow coming from beneath the door and some soft white light that snuck its way between the curtains, but it was still too dark to see anything.

“Richie?” He asked cautiously. He didn’t even know if the other man was there. He didn’t even know where he was. For all he knew, he was dead. 

But, someone stirred beside him, and he felt someone give his hand a gentle squeeze. Eddie looked down, even though he could barely see, he knew who it was. 

“Hhm, Eddie?” Richie’s voice was rough from sleep. 

Eddie smiled to himself. So he wasn’t dead. Or he was and Richie was also dead. Were they dead?

“Richie, am I dead?”

“What?” Richie sat up abruptly, his brain finally starting back up. “No, you’re not dead.”

“Oh, good.” Eddie groaned a bit when he tried to sit up. “Then where are we?”

“The hospital,” Richie responded. “Hang on, I’m going to turn the light on, I want to see you.”

Richie pushed his chair back as he stood up, the scraping the chair made was terrible. “Hey, keep it down, would you?”

“Yeah, sorry,” Richie mumbled before turning on the lights.

A jarring burst of light came from the ceiling and immediately set off pounding in Eddie’s ears. Richie, who had been watching his friend so closely, seemed to notice and turned half the lights off and came to sit back down by Eddie.

“How are you feeling?” He asked softly. He was unable to tear his eyes off of him. 

“What do you think?” Eddie gave a humorless laugh, but stopped when he saw the look in Richie’s eyes, “I’m okay, Richie.”

Richie nodded but didn’t say anything else. He just took Eddie’s hand back in his own and looked into his eyes, before lowering his own to stare at their hands. They stayed like that for a while. It was peaceful. 

Just the two of them in a universe of their own. Hospitals never seemed to follow the same laws of time as anywhere else, and two minutes could be two hours and two hours could be two minutes. It felt like a gift, a small reward for all the years of trauma and the 27 which they had forgotten the many years of Derry. If they were lucky, maybe the universe would grant them an eternity, even if they only exist here, in the worn-out hospital room. 

There were no clowns, no towns to save, no one to fight off. It was just them. Eddie had been waiting for this moment since they got to Derry, he just hadn’t thought that he'd be in a hospital bed.

“I better-“ Richie said suddenly, “I better call the nurse. They asked me to do that when you woke up. I should do that.”

“Okay,” Eddie’s voice was soft, “Wait. What happened… “

Richie stilled. He couldn’t bring himself to say it, because if he did, it would be real. It would have been true. But there Eddie was, asking him. How could he say no?

Slowly, with a shaky breath, he mumbled, “We killed him. And you died.”

Without giving Eddie any time to respond, he paged the nurse. But that only took seconds, so he sat back down in his chair. He couldn’t bring himself to look his friend in the eyes. If he looked too hard, there was a chance that it could all just disappear. 

“Oh,” Eddie chuckled dryly, “I supposed that makes sense.”

“Yeah, I suppose.” 

Maybe this is all fake. Maybe it will turn to dust in front of his eyes. 

Eddie reached up, with all the strength he could muster and ran his hand through Richie’s hair. “Hey, asshole. Look at me.”

He looked up, eyes wide, almost like he had been caught doing something wrong. He should say something. He should say something right now, but he couldn’t. There were no words on the tip of his tongue and no funny quips up his sleeve.

Eddie hummed quietly, “Your glasses are broken.”

Richie sat there like a deer in headlights. “Uh… yeah. I guess they are. Didn’t notice.”

“Maybe,” he said softly, reaching up to take the glasses off Richie’s face, “You should also clean the blood off, huh?”

“Blood?”

“Jesus, how can you even see with dirty and broken glasses?” Eddie asked, holding the thick glasses up to his own face. “Did your prescription get worse?”

“You know,” Richie moved finally, swiping at Eddie’s face to get his glasses back, “You look a lot better like this.”

That earned him a laugh, and Eddie shoved the glasses back on his face, “Here you go, dipshit.”

“Aw, Eds,” There was something else on the tip of his tongue, something he was so ready to say, but the door opened.

A short nurse appeared in the door, “It’s good to see you up,” she smiled warmly at the two of them, “I am so sorry to interrupt, I’ll make this quick and you can go back to sleep.”

She came in swiftly and picked the clipboard up from the end of the bed. Gracefully she checked machines and switched them up, she turned to Eddie. “The doctor will come in tomorrow to check on you and give you a briefing. Do you need anything, sweetheart? Food? Blankets?”

“No, I’m all set. Thank you.” Eddie replied meekly.

She nodded, “Of course. Well, I will see you tomorrow. Sleep well.” She shuts the door carefully as she leaves. 

“Sweetheart?” Richie smiles the best he can and wiggles his eyebrows. “Looks like you’ve got an admirer.”

Eddie hits his arm, “Shut up!”

“Nah, I don’t think I will.”

“Besides,” Eddie says lazily as he lays back down on the bed. “I think someone has already taken that title.”

Richie panics. “Who?” 

All Eddie does is laugh, “You should tell the rest of the Losers that I’m okay.”

Richie stands up to lean over him. “I won't until you tell me.”

“And I won't tell you until you tell the Losers I'm okay.”

He grumbled, sat down, and took out his phone to text their friends. “Asshole.”

“Asshole?” Eddie scoffed, “look who’s talking.”

“Okay, I told them.” Richie looked up, “So tell me, who has taken the title?’

“I’m sorry, what?” Eddie does his best to not smile, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Did you hit your head, Richie?”

“Did I hit _my_ head?” Richie pushed Eddie over in the bed and climbed on it, fitting himself around Eddie, being careful to not move him. “See, Eddie Spaghetti, this is why you're the asshole.”

“Okay first of all,” He turned to him, “Don’t call me that. And second, I’m not the one who shoved the one who’s been impaled, so who’s the asshole?”

“Clearly, It’s not me.” Richie glanced over at his friend, “Because I’m not the one who’s not holding up their end of a bargain. So tell me. Who has the title?”

“Fine.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, okay.” He rolled his eyes and reached for Richie’s hand. 

“Uh…” Richie looked down at their entwined hands. He was trying to formulate a sentence that made sense, but his brain was having difficulty getting past the fact that Eddie was actually holding his hand. “Eddie? You’re holding my hand?”

“Yes, I am,” He replied slowly, looking over at him.

“You're holding my hand.”

“Richie? Are you okay?”

“Why are you holding my hand?” Richie wanted to know why. Because what he was thinking was probably something very far off from the real reason. He wanted to believe what was going on in his head was right, but he needed Eddie to say it.

“Oh my god.” With his free hand, he rubbed his eyes. “Are you serious?”

“What?” Richie laughed a little. “Please, answer my question.”

“Richie,” Eddie started slowly, “You’re an idiot.”

He smiled widely, “I know. But I want to make sure you're thinking the same thing I am.”

Eddie sighed, “I’m taking it back, I won't tell you. Especially if you're going to be an idiot.” He yanked his hand back, but his words didn’t deter the wide smile on his face or the laugh that came from Richie.

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry.” Richie reached for his hand, “But… you could still tell me.”

Reluctantly Eddie let Richie grab his hand. He wouldn’t admit it, but it was nice, it felt safe and it made his stomach do flips, though that could be because he hadn’t eaten anything in a very long time and he definitely wasn't going to eat the jello that the nurses might bring him. 

“Richie,” Eddie said, letting a smile take to his face. After all, Richie’s smile was the most infectious thing in the world. “I like you.”

Richie turned so he could plant a sloppy kiss on his cheek. “Good, because I like you too.”

“Gross dude!” Eddie's face twisted and he wiped his cheek with the blanket, “Ew. Why’d you do that?”

But before Richie could respond his phone lit up. “So that’s definitely our friends.”

“Okay…” 

“We could ignore them.”

He pretended to think about that, “Let’s do that.”

“Wait, really? Bev’s going to be pissed.”

“And we can deal with her later.”

“Okay, suit yourself.”

They both settled as comfortably as they could in the lumpy hospital bed which was not made for two people. Despite the small size, it didn’t feel awkward or uncomfortable. Eddie fit perfectly next to Richie, so perfectly that he had just the right amount of space to elbow him when necessary. 

They lay there, perfectly still for a few minutes, basking in the peaceful, clown freeness. They didn’t have to worry about anything, except normal everyday things. Not murder clowns. Not about almost being killed several times. Not about completely forgetting everything about their childhood.

“This is nice,” Richie mumbled.

Eddie nodded slowly, sleep trying to take him again. “Hmm, yeah” 

A few more moments passed before Eddie was completely asleep. Richie smiled down at him and kissed the top of his head gently. 

“Goodnight,” He whispered softly. “I love you.”

  
  
  



End file.
